


No King of Mine

by BannedBookReader



Category: Aquaman (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Family, Family Angst, Family Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:27:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24583039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BannedBookReader/pseuds/BannedBookReader
Summary: Koryak was 5 when he learned who his father was.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	No King of Mine

**Author's Note:**

> Shout out to the Facebook page "Learn Useless Yup'ik" which is where I got the words from!

No King of Mine

Koryak was five when he found out who his father was. 

Kako, for reasons his five year old mind couldn't comprehend, would watch the news nightly. She'd curl up on the couch with her college textbooks, while Koryak played with his toys on the floor. The news was white noise. Existing to fill the space. Sometimes it'd have something interesting to say. But more often than not it frustrated her. Even at such a young age Koryak could tell that much. But even so Kako didn't often react to the news much past a "hmmm" or an off hand comment that he didn't understand. 

Until a new hero emerged off the coast of Maine. A man had come from the ocean and saved an apartment building that was burning down. It was such a bizarre story, at the time at least, that it had made national news. Koryak didn't care about him in the least and was content to see how tall he could stack his dominos before they crashed down. Then he heard his mother gasp. Her textbook hit the floor with enough force that Koryak jumped and knocked his tower over. 

"Aana?" He asked, startled. 

"That's Artoor!" She was on her feet pointing at the TV. "Koryak, that's your father! Your aata!"

"Him?" He took in the screen a bit differently this time. Scanning the man who had saved lives. He was pale, with blonde hair, nothing like Koryak's dark skin and brown hair. "Are you _sure_?"

"I'd know that face anywhere. It's been five years but...It's him." 

The little boy pursed his lips. Artoor wasn't anything that he'd imagined. But...it _was_ kinda cool he was saving all those people. And maybe even cooler that he could hold up what appeared to be a support beam, not that he knew the words for it then, by himself with the building on fire behind him. And he was clearly in pain so it was even cooler that he was doing all that despite said pain. 

"Okay." He said as thoughtfully as he could manage. "I think I like him." 

Kako scooped up her child with ease and swung him around causing an eruption of giggles. "And he would _love_ you." She punctuated this point with a kiss on his head. 

And at first? Koryak actually believed that. His mother had never been wrong before after all. 

From then on he'd pay just a little bit more attention to the news. Waiting to see the mysterious man from the water again. He'd also insisted on hearing how his parents met. 

"Well," Kako laughed. "I might have upset a polar bear."

"Aana!" 

"I know! I know! And as amazing as your aana is, I'm not capable of fighting off a bear. Especially back then. But then a boy my age came out of the water and helped me fight it off. He almost died trying to help me, a complete stranger." She wasn't looking at Koryak anymore. Her eyes glazed over watching the past. 

"Wow." Was all he could manage to say. 

By the time he was six the news had dubbed his father "Aquaman", or maybe he'd dubbed himself that. Koryak had no way of knowing really, but with each news story about the heroic Aquaman he felt himself becoming more and more proud. That was his father. He was the son of a hero! And later he found out; a King. 

Aquaman was a water breathing hero Koryak realized when he was seven. So instead of going straight home from school like he'd promised his mother, he ran for the shore. The icy Alaskan water was a shock but oddly bearable. He continued into the waves, against his common sense and knowledge that his mother would never allow this sort of thing. It was far too dangerous. Still he dove beneath the waves. His body adjusted to the frigid water and it was almost comfortable. Not entirely so, but he wasn't going to freeze. Yet he couldn't bring himself to release the air he held in his lungs. The risk of being wrong was too great. 

He swam back up and popped his head out of the water. His lungs should have been burning but they weren't. How long could he hold his breath exactly? Even with that question front and center in his mind he let the fresh air enter his nose and mouth. That was until a large wave smashed him back under the water. Tossing him around like a ragdoll. Panic seized him. He couldn't escape the twisting violent water. He was going to drown.

Except.

He was breathing just fine. 

Koryak blinked, letting his eyes adjust in the frothing mass. He stopped fighting the wave and let it push him back to shore. 

A few hours later he returned home sopping wet and grinning ear to ear. "Aana!" He called, forgetting for the moment exactly how much trouble he was in. "I have wonderful news!" 

His wonderful news felt just a little less wonderful after he was grounded for two weeks. But even so, this was proof. Kako was right. The hero on the TV really was Koryak's father. And one day soon he was going to show up and introduce himself. 

Aquaman still hadn't shown up by the time Koryak turned ten.

He was supposed to be doing his homework. Instead he was glued to his TV. A tiny thing that sat heavily on his desk. Boxy and old. But it worked and that's all that mattered because the news station had advertised a story about Aquaman and at this point Koryak would take anything he could get. Even the unlicensed posters he'd begged his mother for. And how could she say no?

So there he sat, rocking in his wooden desk chair, knowing he shouldn't because of the way it was squeaking, surrounded by Aquaman posters, ready to see what heroic feat his father had done this time. 

He'd gotten married. 

Koryak wasn't sure he was processing what he heard correctly. 

There was no way he'd gotten _married_ , because he was going to come back and marry Kako. They were going to be a family. Except there was video footage of the wedding. Fuzzy and awkward because the wedding was underwater but it was still obvious. Koryak turned off his TV. He dragged himself into the kitchen where his mother was fixing dinner and told her the devastating news. Her words rocked him.

"Oh. Well good for him. I hope they're happy together." 

It was the first time he'd ever actually been angry with his mother. Sure he'd had his childish moments but nothing could equal this. He was yelling and crying before he knew he was yelling and crying. His confusion in a cage match with his betrayal. For about thirty seconds Kako watched stunned. Then she pulled him into a tight hug even though he was fighting it.

"Kory," She breathed. "That was a long time ago. I never expected him to return for me-"

" _Why!?_ " 

She pulled him out of the hug just enough to look him in the eyes. "Because we were children. Silly children madly in love for a winter. Then my uncle ran him out and I knew that was the last I'd see of him." She wiped his face with her thumb. "I don't expect you to understand, but I hold no torch for him. Even if he did come back." 

"But what about _me_?" His sobs grew worse and this time Kako had no answer. Instead she simply held him. 

"Koryak, kenkamken." Her telling him that she loved him didn't make him feel better. Koryak _knew_ that she loved him. He needed to know about his father, but that wasn't going to happen. A part of him was starting to realize that.

He continued watching the news, left the posters up, but some of the thrill was gone. There was still a hope that he couldn't quite squash though. That Aquaman would show up to meet him. To apologize to Kako for leaving. That somehow, someway, they'd be a family. Even if Aquaman was married and Kako had no interest in rekindling their relationship. 

After that first break down Koryak started having trouble with his temper. He did his best to stay calm. To not let things bother him as much as they did. But sometimes he'd just snap. About half the time it was justified, the other half he'd cringe about later. He did manage to keep from yelling at his mother almost all the time. She had enough on her metaphorical plate, even if her physical one was sometimes empty. She'd claim she just wasn't hungry. He knew better. 

By age twelve he'd taken it upon himself to use his abilities to catch fish for dinner. Told his mother it was because he enjoyed the sport of it. In all honesty he didn't much care for it. However, by age thirteenth it did help him blow off some steam after a particularly bad day at school, or just in general. 

Being Inuk in an Alaskan High School wasn't exactly easy. Granted he wasn't the only one, and sometimes he'd talk to the others in Yup'ik which was refreshing, until the Principal told them it was "inappropriate" and the next time he caught them they'd get detention. He wouldn't say he had any friends though. That, with his background, child of a single mother who got pregnant at sixteen, made him an easy target. But Koryak had promised his mother he'd stay out of fights this year. So he held it in, let it fester in a way no thirteen year old should have too. 

His habits didn't change much once he was in High School. He'd still go home everyday after school, unless they needed fish, sit down at his desk and pull out his homework like he was actually going to start it, and turn on the news instead. 

Koryak did just that after a particularly rough day. Everything almost had come close to setting him off for some reason. The kids actively trying to piss him off didn't help. He was hoping the news would be mind numbing. Stories about how a cat saved its owner from a broken heart or something like that. Instead it was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"And who is this young fellow?" The reporter asked with a canned laugh, moving her microphone down to the black haired boy. He was probably about Koryak's age. 

"I've been hanging with Aquaman for years! I'm kinda insulted you're only just now asking!" He was grinning even if he was insulted, which Koryak doubted.

Aquaman let out a laugh of his own and gently pushed the boy away from the reporter. The way a father might reign in a son. "This is Aqualad." 

"Aqualad huh? So does that mean he's your son?" 

Koryak's heart stopped.

"No, I actually don't have a son-"

His blood turned to ice.

"But my lovely Queen is pregnant so maybe soon."

He couldn't breathe.

"Though I guess you could say Aqualad is currently the closest thing I ha-"

Koryak's fist was through the TV before he knew what was happening. He couldn't feel the pain from the glass dug into his skin, causing blood to pour out. His anger had completely drowned out everything else. 

The posters came off his wall with satisfying rips. His lamp crashed into the hardwood with an even more satisfying crash. His TV was fucked anyway so he slammed what was left of it into the floor. He grabbed the picture Kako had found of her and Artoor from that winter and was ready to let it meet the floor too.

"Koryak!" 

His mother's voice knocked aside his fury, replacing it with grief and sorrow. The picture tumbled out of his hand and hit the floor unscathed. He followed it, dropping to his knees. 

Kako pulled him into a tight hug but he did his best to keep his bleeding hand away from her work shirt. 

"Oh honey. What happened?" 

He shook his head, sobs keeping his words at bay. Eventually, he wasn't sure how long exactly, he was able to pull away. 

"I'll never be his son." He choked before pulling himself back into his mother's embrace. 

"I am so, _so_ , sorry Kory..."

But it wasn't Kako's fault.

It was Aquaman's


End file.
